Religious Child Abuse

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For those who have suffered through psychological, physical, or sexual abuse or neglect connected to any religion. A call to arms against all religious child abuse including children being labeled with religion. Everyone for this cause is welcome!

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Link didn't take--will try once more. If I can't get it but you're interested, go to ffr.org>news>freethought radio>archives and podcasts, punch "2008" and "August" into the dropdown boxes. It's the August 16th program.

Just heard this Freedom From Religion Foundation podcast from mid-August of 2008. It begins with audio clips of survivors of priest sex abuse in Chicago. The second half of the show is an interview with one of their interns, Sarah Braasch, who discusses life as a child within the Jehovah's Witnesses.

I'm familiar with the Pearls...once upon a time I even owned a couple of their books! No, Debi Pearl is not a psychologist....and I would bet they completely discount psychology anyway. Here's a link to an interesting article from a great website offering support for those who've come out of what's commonly called the "Quiverfull" movement (some have left christianity, while others just moved to a less legalistic version). A lot of people in this "movement" are the same people who buy into the Pearl's horrific insanity. The owner of the site has left christianity completely, and she's such a champion for those hurt by the movement, I'm hoping her influence will help others to leave christianity altogether.

Religious child abuse guru Michael Pearl will be on the Early Show tomorrow (3/18) between 7:00 and 8:00 am. He'll be discussing his child training methods and the death of Lydia Schatz. Michael and Debi Pearl are the whacked masters of "No Greater Joy" ministries, and are responsible for brainwashing countless parents into abusing their children in the name of God. Three fatalities have been attributed to his teachings. I'm hoping he reveals his ignorance and mental insanity on National TV.

This is an entire book chapter so not exactly quick reading. A LOT could be said about just that one page, I think. To me the conclusions of Philip Greven listed there are among the most interesting.

At the bottom of the page is a "Flogging for God" link that leads to a motherload of related stuff. The site itself is anti-cruelty and pro-children's rights--not specifically anti-religious. In fact it has the endorsement of religious people and groups. As someone who believes that the best, shortest route to bringing rationality to the religious is to end the cruelty that exists within it, I see those endorsements as being completely great things. They can think the moon is made of green cheese, far as I'm concerned, so long as they quit trying to "break" their kids. Who were never really "theirs" in the first place.

Sorry to rattle on, but the older I get the more this stuff pisses me off. The world is stupid, but just doesn't need to be. It never really has. "Ignorance" hasn't been the problem, cruelty has. Whatever else science uncovers about the cosmos, I hope it figures out soon that this world we're all stuck on together will stay screwed up and stupid no matter what until people give up the stupid, age-old, time-tested, culturally accepted, moronic "wisdom" that breaking their kids into little pieces is actually a good thing.

I had to pray on my knees quite a lot as a child. Now I have a bad knee. Seriously, it hurts, it swells, and someday I'll have to get surgery, probably.

The only thing that could've caused it was the hours a day of kneeling in prayer that I had to do for 9 years. It's a physical reminder of the very real abuse that happens in Christian churches all around the world today. Just because a person starts out as a child, people think their parents should be free to inflict any religion on them.